Everybody wants a piece of Patrick Vernon. The director of Brent health action zone in north-west London is walking through the corridors of the Wembley Centre for Health and Care when a local GP buttonholes him to arrange a meeting. "These are the people who are really making a difference to health here," the doctor enthuses. "The rest are just tinkering around the edges."

A voluntary organisation worker passes by, calling out that she and Vernon should talk this afternoon. An hour later, managers from North West London Business Links, part of the government's small business service, crowd into the conference room to meet him.

"Working with communities has been powerful," says 41-year-old Vernon. "When I started this job, I spent every evening in meetings. Now I've cut down to three a week. Community groups always said: 'Give us your money, Patrick.' But it's not about money - it's about recognition."

The other thing that has changed since Vernon left mental health charity Mind to take up the director's post, almost three years ago, is the profile of Britain's 26 health action zones (Hazs). Announced in 1998 by the then health secretary, Frank Dobson, to "reduce the inequalities in health that mar our society", the zones seemed to vanish from the national agenda two years later.

In Brent - a borough with a majority black and Asian population - the Haz has "proved its worth 10 times over", according to Vernon. In Brent's poorest ward, Carlton, male life expectancy is 68, while it is 75 in the borough's most affluent area, Riding. Four stops on London Undergound's Jubilee line puts seven years on your life.

Because of Vernon's track record of community engagement in Mind, as a mediator and facilitator and mentor of black young men, the Brent Haz has been able to break through local cynicism surrounding government initiatives.

With a three-year budget of £3.7m - 0.5% of total local health spending - the zone has set up more than 50 projects, levering a further £8m into the borough. It has identified potential care savings of £500,000 by looking at the needs of children with disabilities, and championing more specialist home care.

The commission for health improvement has cited the Haz's older patients' hospital discharge project as an example of good practice. In partnership with social services and the North West London Hospitals trust, the zone has recruited a care manager to reduce hospital discharge times for older people from 12 days to two, saving a total of 9,361 bed days last year.

"I have a small core staff here and then project workers in hospitals, community organisations and education," says Vernon. "By wearing the innovation hat of Haz, they know they were recruited to do things differently."

Just how differently is demonstrated in projects such as public speaking workshops for black youths at Willesden High School. These are aimed at building communication skills and confidence by using topical health issues such as teenage pregnancy, bullying and sexual relationships. Independent evaluation found that the majority of boys benefited, in terms of confidence and personal aspirations.

Some of those pupils have now joined the Black Male Forum, part of a police initiative to target gun crime in Harlesden. The boys have been designing a poster campaign, launching this month, to promote young black males as a solution to tackling gun crime, rather than being part of the problem.

"How do you shift resources from reaction to prevention?" asks Vernon. "Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are all preventable: they are down to deprivation." Afro-Caribbeans suffer high levels of diabetes and the Haz is spending £130,000 over three years on a programme to help the local community access health services for diabetes. A diabetes specialist nurse has been appointed to develop an education programme.

As black and minority ethnic groups approach health services with more advanced stages of cancer than do the white population, Cancer Black Care is creating a service in Brent and Harrow specifically for them. The Haz provided a £30,000 grant to submit a successful bid to the New Opportunities Fund for £1m funding over five years. So far, 50 people have used the service, some finding out their cancer diagnosis for the first time.

Another Haz initiative, Quest Employment Project, is trying to break the link between mental health difficulties and un-employment. It received 189 referrals in 16 months, and 35 companies have agreed to take people from Quest on work placements.

"Employment gives you choices," says Vernon, who is alarmed at the number of Afro-Caribbean males in the psychiatric system and is undertaking reseach on this for a PhD to trace historic and sociological approaches to this trend.

In an area where redevelopment of Wembley stadium is seen as crucial to the local economy, he has warned of the short-term health effects of asbestos removal and fleets of construction lorries. Vernon has been branded a "maverick" for his pains, but he rather enjoys the description.